The Iselia Dreamflower
by ShadowofUndine
Summary: PreTower Lightheartedness, OneShot. Ever since he met the mercenary, Lloyd has been bothered by Kratos's strangely colored hair, and he finally gets his chance to ask him about it.


_The Iselia Dreamflower_

"The Olfa Uprising was an important event in modern history. The seventy-first Governor-General of Palmacosta, Vahn the Second, led the militia against—"

_Man, this is so boring!_ Lloyd gripped his swords anxiously, as an idea came to him. Carefully, he made his way from the Professor over to Kratos, who was "surveying the landscape." _I want to 'survey the landscape,' too, if it means getting away from that._

Kratos only took momentary notice of him as he came over, not even voicing a greeting. Not that he expected one.

"H-- Hey, Kratos. Got a minute?" Lloyd didn't loosen the grip on his swords. He wanted to ask the mercenary something he'd been curious about for a while now, and, if he knew the guy at all, he'd need his swords in a few minutes.

Kratos didn't take his eyes off the scenery around them. "You're supposed to be paying attention to Raine's lesson," saying it as if he were stating a fact. Well, it was a fact, but—

"But her less—" he caught himself just in time and lowered his voice, "but her lessons are so boring!"

Kratos took a moment to glance at him with a pity and amusement before his eyes when back to the land around them. "What is it you wanted to ask?"

"Oh. Uh—" Lloyd stopped walking a moment to gather his thoughts and to steel himself against the mercenary's assured upcoming rage. "What color would you say your hair is?" This thought had been bothering him ever since the Martel Temple.

The mercenary favored Lloyd with a funny look he couldn't make sense of. Kratos was so weird sometimes. "Why are you asking this so suddenly?"

"I just want to know, I guess." Lloyd shrugged to cover part of his nervousness.

Kratos went back to scanning. "…Auburn, I suppose."

"What?"

"A reddish-brown color."

Lloyd blushed in embarrassment as he was favored once again with Kratos's pitying gaze. "O- Oh. R-- really?" He swallowed instinctively. "'Cause I think it looks kind of… pink." There it was. He said it. His death sentence was signed. His life was over.

Kratos stopped dead in his tracks. "Pink?"

Okay, he wasn't dead yet. That was a good sign, but he wasn't safe yet either. "Yeah."

Kratos glared at him. Lloyd was determined not to wither under that glare, but it was hard. "What gave you an absurd idea like that?"

He was scary, but Kratos didn't look like he was going to kill him. Lloyd was feeling courageous now. He waved his hand in the mercenary's direction. "Look at it!"

Kratos's response was to grab a large strand of his hair roughly and scrutinize it. "My hair is not pink."

Maybe it was just Lloyd, but that sounded like denial. If Kratos wasn't going to kill him, this could turn out to be a lot of fun. Leaving Kratos to his hair for a moment, he jogged to catch up to Colette. "Hey, Colette. Could you come here for a sec?"

She turned to him, a wide smile on her face. "Hi, Lloyd. Oh. Is something wrong?" Colette's sunny smile turned into a worried frown. Lloyd thought she was cute when she frowned like that.

"No. It's just… Kratos and I were talking about something, and we need your help."

Colette looked nothing less than ecstatic. "You need my help? Really?"

"Yeah! Come on!"

"Okay!" If Lloyd didn't know better, he'd say Colette was skipping.

It didn't take long for them to make it back to the mercenary; he did not look happy.

Colette waved at Kratos cheerfully. "Hi, Mr. Kratos!"

He did not even spare her a glance. "Hello, Chosen. Lloyd, it is not necessary to bring the Chosen into this."

Lloyd ignored him and boldly pointed straight at Kratos's hair to direct Colette's attention. "So, Colette, what color do you think Kratos's hair is? We couldn't decide on a good color for it."

Not even puzzled by the strange question, all of Colette's attention went to the mercenary's hair. A short moment passed while Colette tried to decide what color it was and Kratos tried to pretend they didn't exist. "Oh, I know! It's the same pinkie-red color as those pretty flowers at your father's house!"

Lloyd couldn't contain his laughter at that, and he was sure he heard Genis burst out laughing nearby. "I knew I could count on you, Colette!"

Colette beamed as bright as the sun coming out after a rainstorm. "I'm so glad I could help you and Mr. Kratos!"

The mercenary looked stunned and a tad flustered. "Pink… flowers?" he murmured to himself, but Lloyd caught it and that made him laugh even harder.

Unfortunately, all that laughing did not go unnoticed by the professor. "Lloyd! What's so funny about the Battle at Thoda—" she turned around, hand raised, only to realize the student she was trying to reprimand was nowhere nearby. She did the next best thing and smacked Genis, who was laughing just as much as Lloyd was. "Genis! I thought at least you would have the sense to listen!"

"Oww!" His best friend rubbed his head gingerly. "I'm sorry, Raine, but Colette just told Kratos that his hair was the color of the Iselia Dreamflower."

"Honestly, I thought you had enough sense not to…" she trailed off as she realized what he had just said. She cautiously risked a glance in the mercenary's direction. "Did she… really say that?"

"Yup!" Even Lloyd had to admit the snicker that followed promised plenty of future torment for Kratos. He almost felt bad, but not enough to do anything about it. This was too much fun.

The professor was not doing a good job of holding in her laughter. "It... does... resemble the Dreamflower, doesn't it? It certainly--" Finally, the laughter won out and whatever she was going to say was lost in a rare fit of giggles.

Lloyd, Genis, and the professor were laughing whole-heartedly. Colette, not really knowing what was so funny, laughed along with them, happy to see everyone else so happy. Kratos did his best to pointedly ignore _all_ of them, and the Journey of Regeneration continued.


End file.
